Wish I Could Stay
by RLBB
Summary: Tag to 3x02 'Stay'. Audrey reflects on what Dukes tells her about the time she has left in Haven.


Tag to 3x02 'Stay'. Just wanted to write about what Audrey might be thinking/feelings after the events of the day and the information Duke gives her.

I do not own a thing. Dialogue is from the episode.

_Italics_ indicate flashback to a particular scene.

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It was 2 o'clock in the morning and Audrey was wide awake. She lay in bed staring up at the ceiling for what seemed like another long hour. Turning her head she looked at the digital clock on her night stand. It read 2:10 A.M. Sighing in frustration Audrey threw off the comforter and got up. She walked towards the door pulling on her boots and coat on the way. As she walked onto the porch and over to the railing a gust of cold wind hit her.

The nights were getting chilly. In just a few short months it would start snowing. She needed to remember to-

Audrey stopped closing her eyes. A few months. She wouldn't be here in a few months. She thought back to her encounter with Duke that morning.

"_Hunter. It's not a person. It's…a meteor storm. Comes out of the Orion constellation. It hits every 27 years. When you were Lucy, and before that-when you were Sarah- the night of the hunter meteor storm is the night you disappeared both times" _

_She can't process what he's saying. _

"_Where did I go?" she blurts out_

"_I don't know" Dukes whispers. "You just…vanished" _

_She looks away. A million questions are racing through her mind but the most urgent escapes her first: "When's the next one?" _

"_Two months" Duke answers looking down._

"_Two months?!" she says, shocked. Two months was barely…_

"_49 days" _

_Audrey breathes out. She doesn't know what to say. She doesn't even know what to think. _

Even now Audrey was having a hard time coming to terms with what Duke had told her. It felt like a doctor had just diagnosed her with a fatal illness and told her she had two months to live. Except she had no idea what was making her sick.

She opened her eyes, looking towards the town of Haven. She stared at the yellow glow of the streetlights of the place she had just started to settle into.

"_Can I bring my new dog?" _

"_Wait you're gonna keep him?" Claire says, looking at Audrey in surprise._

"_He's a good listener" she replies. She had always wanted a dog. No better time than the present, right? _

_Claire continues, "But um, there's another relationship that I would encourage you to address" _

_She catches Claire's pointed look at Nathan and the subsequent sideways glance directed at her. _

"_Ah that's…that's so…that's complicated" she finishes lamely. She doesn't want to start her therapy sessions here and she sure as hell doesn't have any intention of talking to Claire Callahan about her and Nathan. _

"_I have no doubt that it is" Claire replies cutting her off, "But I also know the only reason that he allowed me to follow you around is because he really cares about you" _

_Audrey continues staring at Nathan. She knows Claire's right. Nathan always looks out for her. She takes a deep breath. _

"_It doesn't hurt to have someone to lean on" Clair finishes, walking off. _

_Audrey looks at Nathan and he looks up at her. She gives an involuntary smile, watching him pet Cookie, he grins back at her. _

Nathan. On some nights, many nights, it felt as though all thoughts led back to him. As Audrey continued to look towards the rest of the town she pictured Nathan sleeping soundly in his bed.

"_So we still taking this guy for a walk?" Nathan and Cookie both look up at her. But she can't even bring herself to smile so she just nods instead. _

From there it's like she can't even control it. Her imagination takes off. She pictures herself and Nathan coming home after a long day of paperwork, to _their _home; opening the door to a big dog barking and jumping and licking. Nathan saying, "We should take him for a walk" and heading into the house, dog on his heels- but not before he gives her a soft kiss.

"_Surprised you gave him up" Nathan calls out to her as she makes her way back to him._

"_I kind of thought you wanted a dog" _

"_I did" she replies nodding. She can feel his eyes on her. _

"_It just…" she looks up towards him to answer but she can't bring herself to look into his eyes._

"_It wouldn't work out" _

Audrey blinks. Once. Twice. There's a stinging sensation in her eyes as she beings to cry. She grips the railing in front of her breathing in and out, trying to stop herself.

She stares up at the carpet of stars above her. It's too late. She can't stop. So she lets herself cry.

She cries for the dog she will never get. The new friends she will never make. The man she will never love.

And she cries for herself and the sense of home that she will never truly have.

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**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought!**

**Also I can totally tell this season of Haven is going to be emotionally draining. Anyone with me?**


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